Air cargo volumes from China and Hong Kong to Europe declined for a sixth consecutive week, as new European Union (EU) import regulations introduced on 1 July continue to drive up costs and operational complexity. The downturn has weighed on global growth and contributed to falling freight rates worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the latest data from WorldACD Market Data, chargeable weight from mainland China to Europe fell by a further 5% week-on-week (WoW) in week 31 (27 July to 2 August), while Hong Kong recorded a 3% WoW decline. Year-on-year (YoY), volumes dropped by 7% from China and a sharp 24% from Hong Kong. For the full month of July, Hong Kong-Europe tonnages were down 19% compared with June and 24% lower than July last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mainland China volumes have proven more resilient than Hong Kong\u2019s e-commerce-driven market, which has been more heavily impacted by the removal of the EU\u2019s tariff-free exemption for goods valued under \u20ac150. Tonnages from China to Europe declined by 3% month-on-month (MoM) in July and were down 6% YoY. Combined China and Hong Kong volumes to Europe fell 9% MoM and 12% YoY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Falling spot rates intensify pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Spot rates on China-Europe lanes have also been in steady decline over the past six weeks. Rates from Hong Kong dropped from $5.80 per kilo in week 25 to $4.96 in week 31, a 15% decrease. From mainland China, rates fell more sharply, from $5.43 per kilo to $3.86, marking a 29% drop, based on over 500,000 weekly transactions tracked by WorldACD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although spot rates in week 31 remained slightly above last year\u2019s levels\u2014up 2% from China and 7% from Hong Kong\u2014the premium has narrowed significantly from the roughly 25% increases seen in previous months. Across the wider Asia Pacific region, rates remain elevated YoY, including Taiwan (+33%), Vietnam (+39%), and Thailand (+32%). However, the overall Asia Pacific to Europe rate increase has eased from +39% in week 25 to +17% in week 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In July, spot rates from Asia Pacific origins to all destinations declined 10% MoM to an average of $4.75 per kilo, though still 29% higher YoY. Globally, average spot rates fell 8% MoM to $3.41 per kilo, also maintaining a 29% YoY increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All major air cargo origin regions recorded MoM declines in July, although most remain at least 20% above last year\u2019s levels, except Central and South America, where rates are up by just 5% YoY. Elevated pricing continues to reflect high fuel surcharges driven by increased jet fuel costs linked to geopolitical tensions, alongside supply-demand imbalances and strong demand from sectors such as AI-driven data centre infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Global volumes show slower growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the downturn on key China-Europe routes, global air cargo volumes rose 2% in July compared with June, with total chargeable weight up 5% YoY. However, this marks a slowdown from the 9% YoY growth recorded in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growth from Asia Pacific origins nearly halved, dropping from 11% YoY in June to 6% in July. Europe saw growth ease from 8% to 3%, while Middle East and South Asia (MESA) declined from 12% to 4% YoY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Global capacity edged up 1% WoW in week 31, supported by a 5% recovery in MESA markets following easing tensions in the Gulf, and a 2% rebound in Asia Pacific capacity after disruption from a recent typhoon. However, MESA capacity remains around 11% below pre-conflict levels recorded in week 7, with Gulf capacity still 20% lower despite recent improvements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Air cargo volumes from China and Hong Kong to Europe declined for a sixth consecutive week, as new European Union (EU) import regulations introduced on 1 July continue to drive up costs and operational complexity. The downturn has weighed on global growth and contributed to falling freight rates worldwide. According to the latest data from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3773,"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772\/revisions\/3773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theghani.com\/stg01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}